Operating the treadles oe looms



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBT. ANDREW'S, OF STAFFORD, CONNECTICUT.

OPERATING THE TREADLES 0F LOOMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 9,540, dated January18, 1853; Reissued May Y12, 1868, No. 2,928.

To aZZ w/wm t may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT W. ANDREWS, ofStafford, in the county of Tolland and State of Connecticut, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Power-Looms; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full and exact description thereof,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of thisspecification, Figure l being a front elevation of such parts of apower-loom as are necessary to exhibit my improvement and its action;Fig. 2, end elevation of the same, and Figs. 3 and l side views of a camand treadle in different relative positions.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The loom is operated by means of power applied to a pulley A, on themain shaft C. A shaft B, sit-uated below said shaft- C, and driventhereby, through the cog-wheels a, a, in turn drives, through bevelgears o, b, a shaft c, on which the cams F, F, &c., are placed foroperating a. series of treadles E, E, Sac., whose vibratory movementsupon a common fulcrum (Z, operate the harnesses, by means of lines Z, Z,&c., passing from their extremities m, n, around pulleys 7c, Zc, &c., atthe bottom and top of the loom to said harnesses, in the usual manner.

The nature of my invention consists in operating each treadle E by meansof a mover F, having two outwardly acting cam surfaces e, r, of unequallengths combined in one piece in such a manner that the position of thesaid mover upon its arbor can be reversed for the purpose of doublingits capacity for producing dierent movements and retentions of thetreadle, substantially as hereinafter set forth.

The treadles will be moved positively, smoothly, uniformly and graduallyin both directions; the permutations in the ligure of the fabric wovenmay be doubled without additional machinery, and the cams and treadlesmay occupy much less space than would be possible by any other means, inthe manner hereinafter fully set forth.

Each treadle is curved so as to embrace its mover, (as shown in Figs. 3and 4,) and has on the inner periphery of said curved portion twoprojections, or shoes, zf, z', whose central points are located onopposite sides of, and in the same line with, the center of thecam-shaft c, and against which the cam surfaces of the mover actinvibrating the treadle. Each mover has a central hub q, of the requiredthickness, and two cam-plates e, r, u outside of the same, each being ofone half the thickness of the hub, and both firmly united or forming onesolid piece; the outer peripheries of which plates are of the sameradius, and respectively act against the shoes It, z', of the treadle.The plate r, forms nearly an entire disk, having only a gap in itsperiphery f f f, of suflicient width to receive its shoe during the timethat the plate c, which is of small extent, is acting against its shoe.The unequal sizes of the cam-plates, as shown in the drawings anddescribed above, cause the treadle to remain at one limit of itsvibration longer than at the other; but their relative sizes may bevaried at pleasure. They are so arranged in reference to one another andthe shoes of the treadle, that, at the moment when one commences, theother begins to lessen, its action on its shoe; so that one or the otheris incessantly operating to draw or keep the treadle in one or theopposite direction; each during a relative length of time proportionalto the length of its outer periphery.

As represented in Figs. 3 and 4, the small cam-surface e, actuates theshoe ZL, and the large cam-surface r, actuates the shoe Z; but loot-hthe mover and treadle are so constructed that either may be reversed inposition upon its shaft or fulcrum, and operate exactly in the samemanner, except that when so reversed neither cam-surface acts on thesame shoe, as before; whereby the movement of the treadle is reversedand a new ligure of the fabric woven produced. This capa-- bility ofbeing reversed without adjustment, is peculiar to my double cam moverand treadle, not being possessed by any other known to me. A gap in thecurved portion of each treadle above and between the shoes Zi, Z, wideenough to admit the mover, en-

ables me to reverse the position` of either Each treadle and its shoesmay be of the thickness of each cam-plate of a mover, and one of theshoes be slightly curved, so that the finger guides s, t, will bringboth shoes opposite their respective cam surfaces of the mover: or eachtreadle may have the same thickness as the mover, and each shoe onehaltl the thickness thereof. I usually employ the former method assimpler and otherwise preferable.

Each mover may be placed at any angle on the cam-shaft c, so that by thepermutationsV of their positions almost an endless variety of liguresmay be produced in the fabric woven. The central aperture of each cammover may be smooth and turn freely onthe shaft, when not tightenedthereon; but I prefer to have it grooved, (as shown in Figs.y 3 and 4,)one of which Igrooves will always lit over a longitudinal ridge on theshaft and thereby prevent the possibility of the movers turning' fromits position. They are all tightened in contact with one another on thecam-shaft by nuts g, g, (Fig. 2,)

which are screwed lirmly against the two outer movers.

Whatl claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. Operating each treadle by means of a mover having two outwardlyacting cam surfaces of unequal lengths combined in one piece andproducing the movements and retentions substantially as herein setforth.

2. I also claim such a form and arrangement respectively of the treadlesand their movers that the treadles can be reversed n their positionsupon their fulcrums, and thereby cause a reversal of the movements andretentions of the said treadles substantially as herein set forth.

The above specification of my impro-ved power loom signed and witnessedthis 6th day of October 1852.

ROBERT w. ANDREWS.

Witnesses:

M. R. WEST, JOHN L. WASHBURN.

[FIRST PRINTED 1913.]

